Software applications need to be managed and maintained over the course of their use. Managing software applications may include, for example, auditing the usage of the software application. Further, maintaining a software application may include, for example, installing a new security patch for the software application. Operations used to manage and maintain software applications may be referred to as lifecycle operations (LCOs).
Software applications are deployed on many different types of systems, where each system may include a different set of hardware components and software components and/or a different set of configurations for one or more of the aforementioned components. As such, performing a LCO on or for a software application includes an understanding of the system on which the software application is executing. This information is necessary in order to properly perform the LCO. Further, an administrator of the system must understand the underlying system upon which the software application is executing in order to properly perform the LCO. If the administrator is managing and/or maintaining several different systems, the administrator must maintain or have knowledge of each system in order to properly perform the LCOs on each system.